Beaver: International Badge

We continued our WhatsApp meetings this week with the International Badge.

As with all badges at the moment we're being a bit more flexible with the requirements then if it was during meetings to make it more engaging during a virtual meeting.  

The criteria for this badge is to:
1) Learn a song, play a game or perform a dance from another country.
2) Find out about Beaver Scouts, or younger Scouts if they don’t have Beaver Scouts, in another country.
3) Play a game to match flags and their countries.
4) Use facts about the countries to help you find the right flag.
5)Try different kinds of food from another country.
Vote for your favourite dish and explain why.
6) Learn how to say hello and goodbye in a language other than your own.


We started off with a colouring activity to introduce Beavers around the world which I found on the 1st Facebook Beaver Scout Colony group.
Once they had completed this they had to use Google to find out how each of these Beavers would say "Hello" and "Goodbye"in their own language and draw the flag from each of their countries.

If they managed to do all of this they had to choose one of the Beavers off their sheet and find out more about them; what do they call themselves? what do they say for their Promise? find a song they  might sing in their country.

This took most of the meeting time, so they were challenged over the next few weeks, as freezers may be a little bare at the moment, to taste some foods from different countries (or a few from one country) and vote for their favourite.

Beaver: Book Reader Badge

With no face 2 face meetings allowed 15 of my 24 Beavers met this week via WhatsApp.

I set them the Book Reader badge as their challenge for the evening.  Explaining what I needed to see to be able to tick off the badge.  They then had the next hour to work on it but not to worry if they didn't finish they could carry on sending through the evidence for as long as they wanted.

We obviously had to be a little flexible when it came to the discussion side of things but that's the great thing about Scouting, we can be flexible.

Design a cover for your favourite book.
They had to design a new cover, and mum/ dad posted a photo of the finished article.  A couple decided to make up their own books - that was fine too.

Read at least six books.
They had to find their favourite 6 books.  Mum/ dad posted a photo to the group.  It lead to some great chat between the parents and the leaders posted their 6 favourite too so the Beavers knew we were as human as them.

Show that you know how to look after a book.
I explained we knew to handle them nicely, with clean hands.  Put on bookshelves and use bookmarks.  We had lots of photo's of Beavers and their nice tidy shelves putting away the 6 books they had out.

Make a bookmark and explain what bookmarks are for.
They could be as creative as they like, mum/ dad posted a photo of the finished one to the group.

We had a really fun, relaxing night...... Next week we are going to start our international badge.  It'll take longer than a week but as the children are all off school from Monday some of them will really appreciate the tasks.

The virus we don't want to name and its impact on Scouting

So last night the news Scout leaders up and down the country had been dreading came.... no more face to face meetings for the foreseeable future.

It was met with mixed responses, "yay" that I wouldn't be rushing in from work and doing my usual 10 minute change, wee, grab the bits for the meeting and trek to HQ in whatever the weather throws at us dance that happens every week and deep sadness.  The thought of not seeing the little turquoise ninjas for a few weeks - as noisy as they are and as much as some weeks we go home and vow never to return -  they are still like an extension of our families. we grow to know them and expect the cheeky smiles and comments we know which ones will have remembered the permission slips and which we will still be texting mid-meeting once the payment deadline has passed giving them one last (2 last, 3 last) chances to pay for that trip.  The trip that we now have to cancel/ postpone until the world gets rid of this virus and we can go on living again.  That trip the leaders have spent weeks planning for, booking, arranging deposits, writing risk assessments and chasing money for.... that trip everyone's been looking forward too..... gone.


In light of everything companies have been fantastic.  Tonight's event was cancelled by the organisers anyway as it was a mass gathering but that still means I've work ahead of me to refund the trip when we can get back to meetings. 

Next weeks event was at a small local business, we've agreed to postpone that one so the Beavers have a treat to look forward to when normality ensues.

The last was a big one, they were off to watch a local premier league football match next month - well we know how that's currently working out!  Again they have been fantastic, agreeing to return our deposit and let us re-book as soon as we can when things are back to normal. 


We couldn't let them loose their weekly meetings as well so we had to put our thinking hats on to see how we could meet without it being face to face.  We use WhatsApp a lot for last minute updates and sharing photo's on sleepover so that seemed the obvious choice. 
I decided on a badge to work on, set up a new group and invited all the parents.  I explained what we were doing (meeting via WhatsApp in normal meeting time) and told them any materials they would need to gather.  A gentle reminder was sent 15 minutes before we started.

During the day parents signed up to the group if they wanted to join in during the evening. Those that didn't had no pressure to do so and didn't have to make excuses why they weren't there, they may have been at work tonight so Little Jonny wouldn't have come anyway, they might be poorly, perhaps the badge we did wasn't their cup of tea.

How did it go.......... I'll let you know in the next post :)

Urban Hike - Manchester

As  a mum I love to get my kids out of the house and off for a walk, most Friday's you'll find me sat on the laptop whilst they are at school trying to find somewhere new to go or even an unknown walk  with things to see and do around Sheffield.

At the beginning of the year our Beavers set out for a JOTT walk, which they really enjoyed (you can find out more here). When I was told about Manchester's Urban Hike that Regatta launched earlier this month (working alongside Anja Phoenix).  I was intrigued, so me and the boys set off for Manchester on a glorious summers day to find out more.

Essex International Jamboree 2016 - Junior Jam

The Essex International Jamboree happens every 4 years in Chelmsford, Essex bringing together Scouts and Guides from all over the world for a week of activities, camping and friendships.  For the first time ever they opened their doors to organised groups of Beavers, Cubs, Brownies and Rainbows for their very own Junior Jam (a Jamboree in a day).   The children had an absolutely amazing day and all want to go back in 4 years time for the main Jamboree, I've started the savings account so I can also make it back.

So what happens at a Junior Jam?  Read on to find out more.

Campfires and Marshmallows

When we went on our camp the lovely Innovative Bites sent us some Mega Marshmallows so we could toast them on our campfire.  Who would have known that June in Sheffield was to turn into monsoon season.  Needless to say we didn't get a campfire :(

The Beavers go to Space

.. ok so they didn't actually go to space but they did go to a fantastic (if I do say so myself) Space Camp.

Friday

The Beavers arrived on Friday and helped the leaders and helpers to pitch the patrol tents that they would be staying in  .......

(well that was the theory) ... some took the opportunity to enjoy their freedom and see how much camp mud they could gather in the first hour.